Draghi report is a wake-up call for EU leaders – Expert

Research, innovation and education must be the centre of European Union (EU) policymaking and the EU should invest more in it. That is a key message of Mario Draghi, former European Central Bank president and former Italian prime minister, in his report on The Future of European Competitiveness released on 9 September in Brussels.

Draghi’s hefty 400 plus-page document, commissioned by the European Commission, which wanted Draghi’s personal vision, advocates doubling the budget of the EU’s research programme Horizon Europe from EUR95.5 billion (US$106 billion) now (seven years to 2027) to EUR200 billion for seven years in the future.

This has been wholeheartedly welcomed by EU university experts. Kurt Deketelaere, secretary general of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), told University World News: “We are of course very happy with this report.”

Stressing that LERU also supported the April 2024 EU report from another former Italian prime minister – Enrico Letta – on improving the effectiveness of the EU single market, which suggested creating a “fifth freedom” of EU rights on the free movement of research, innovation, knowledge and education, he said: “Both reports could have been ours,” adding: “Let’s hope this final wake-up call to member states and the EU institutions has the necessary effect.”

Emphasis on innovation

Robert-Jan Smits, president of the executive board of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands, told University World News: “The fact that Draghi puts innovation way up front as a top priority for Europe to boost its competitiveness is of course music to the ears of Europe's universities and so is the clear recommendation to double the budget of the EU research programmes.”

He said: “If Draghi’s recommendations are followed, universities will have to pay more attention to entrepreneurship, technology transfer and the start-up scene,” which is booming, meaning many opportunities for “business angels and venture capitalists”, Smits, the European Commission’s former director general of research, said.

“Notably, Europe’s universities of technology such as TU/e are already pursuing such a policy,” he added.

Deketelaere, who heads the LERU network of 24 leading European research universities from 12 European countries, was, however, disappointed that the report seems to downplay research by continuously mentioning “innovation” instead of “research and innovation (R&I)” as if research is forgotten.

“I am not sure why the traditional ‘R&I’ is not sexy anymore. This reinforces again the idea in some quarters that a lot of innovation is possible without basic and/or applied research, which is not the case,” said Deketelaere, also professor of law at KU (Katholieke Universiteit) Leuven, where LERU is based.

As for the EUR200 billion budget, he said the focus of this finance should be on “excellence”, as “too much money is spent on initiatives where ‘excellence and excellence only’ is not the selection criterion. LERU recommends that the EU institutions cherish frontrunners when developing EU policy and incentivise them to do even better,” he added.

Thomas Jørgensen, director for policy coordination and foresight at the European University Association (EUA) told University World News that as well as spending more on Horizon Europe, care was needed to ensure this money was properly focused: “So it could be imagined that future research funding in Europe comes with many more strings attached in terms of politically directed funding.

“There is also an idea to boost the European Research Council [ERC] for basic research and that is of course highly welcome,” he added.

The EUA expert also said that a favourable regulatory environment was essential to keep investors in Europe as well as “ensuring sustainable and sufficient funding”.

While Europe is an attractive destination for researchers, Europe could do better when it came to offering more flexible, diverse and rewarding research careers, he added.

On the other hand, Jørgensen did not see that having more EU universities in top international rankings was essential.

To achieve this “you take an institution, give it money for research and then send most of the students home, getting a small place that looks big in the rankings. However, that is not going to solve the issues that the report looks at, and it is probably not the kind of higher education system that Europeans want”, he said.

Narrowed research focus

Lidia Borrell-Damián, secretary general of Brussels-based Science Europe, which represents major public research organisations, said the report “echoes earlier calls by the research community to double the [Horizon Europe] budget between 2028-2034 as well as suggesting member states raise their R&I funding to 3% GDP [gross domestic product]”.

She told University World News: “Along with recommendations for a narrowing and further aligning of research priorities, this could potentially impact research funding and research performing organisations as well as research universities to support more ambitious and large-scale research projects at a national and European level.”

She warned that EU national governments may oppose Draghi's recommendations to narrow the focus for research funding and policy towards “priorities he considers more aligned with advancing European competitiveness”, namely artificial intelligence, green technologies and pharmaceuticals.

However, “proposals to simplify and streamline the funding process, making it more accessible and less bureaucratic, would be welcomed as this is often a major barrier to accessing European funds, particularly for smaller organisations,” said Borrell-Damián.

Ruben Puylaert, spokesperson for the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), the association representing the Netherlands’ 14 research universities, said: “Universities have a central role in driving innovation, cutting-edge research and for producing new skills for the labour market, according to Draghi. And that is exactly what Europe needs to remain competitive.”

If more funding is given to universities, Europe can keep up with the United States and China, Smits added.

“With 7% of the world population, Europe still generates 25% of the world’s knowledge and Europe's universities play a key role in this impressive endeavour.”

Political guidelines

A commission official meanwhile assured University World News that the political guidelines already drafted for the next European Commission 2024-2029, assuming office on 1 November 1, confirm “the important role of research and innovation, which are at the centre of our economy; and that the EU has already acknowledged the need for a more coordinated research and innovation strategy, highlighted in the report”.

She added: “To be more competitive, we need to be more impactful with our common European resources. Simplification is therefore very much emphasised in the political guidelines.”

Universities and companies were integral to the EU's innovation and competitiveness strategy, with universities being “key actors to ensure EU competitiveness, along with SMEs, companies and other relevant stakeholders”, she added.

Practical examples of the commission working to make Europe more competitive included the (July 2022) European Innovation Agenda that emphasised collaboration between universities, research institutions and businesses.

The official further highlighted the European Innovation Council (EIC), Europe's flagship innovation programme with a EUR10.1 billion budget, which offers three funding lines to bridge gaps between university labs and enterprise: ‘EIC Pathfinder’, targeting early-stage research on breakthrough technologies generated, for instance, in universities; ‘EIC Transition’, targeting technology maturation from proof of concept to validation; and ‘EIC Accelerator’, targeting development and scale-up of deep-tech [and] disruptive innovations generated, for example, at universities and being commercialised by spinoffs, and start-ups.